Reliant Care Ltd

Updated 9 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 13 ‘supported living’ settings', so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection of the supported living houses was unannounced. However, we gave 24 hours’ notice of our visit to the provider’s office as we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We looked at the care, financial and medicines records for six people. We observed staff providing support to people. We spoke with one person who used the service and one relative. We also spoke with 11 staff members, including the registered manager, director, service manager, business manager, training manager, a senior psychologist, two assistant psychologists, a support worker and a care worker. We looked at a range of records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 9 March 2023

About the service

Reliant Care Ltd provides support to people living in their own homes and in supported living settings. The supported living houses are designed to support between three and 11 people with shared communal facilities such as kitchens, lounges and bathrooms. Most people receiving support have mental health needs. The provider also supports people with learning disabilities and autistic spectrum conditions. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting seven people with personal care needs. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The provider had made improvements to their quality assurance systems since our last inspection. Regular monitoring of a wide range of safety and care issues were taking place and actions taken when concerns were identified. However, we found failures in the management, recording and monitoring of people’s monies where these were looked after by staff. Although there was no evidence people were put at risk, the provider did not have systems in place to reduce the likelihood of financial abuse in the future.

People’s prescribed medicines were safely managed. Staff had received training in the safe administration of medicines.

People had up to date assessments including assessments of risk. These included guidance for staff on managing risk and had been updated when there were changes in people’s care and support needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support: People were supported to make choices. They were enabled to participate in activities as independently as possible. Staff had received training to support people to reduce their anxieties and behaviours.

Right Care: Staff engaged with people using methods they understood. Actions had been taken to ensure people’s privacy and dignity was respected.

Right Culture: The provider had appointed senior staff who understood the needs of people with learning disabilities and autism. Staff received the support and information they required to support people’s needs. We observed positive interactions between people and staff.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 6 April 2022). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to people’s safety, staff training and management of the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Reliant Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation about the safe management of people's monies.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.